


bubbles

by helsinkibaby



Series: peace comes dropping slow [3]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Community: 1-million-words, F/M, Fluff, Het, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:07:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24392545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: There’s something Steve doesn’t like.
Relationships: Noelani Cunha/Steve McGarrett
Series: peace comes dropping slow [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1988524
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19
Collections: 1 Million Words' BINGO





	bubbles

**Author's Note:**

> For one million words bingo, prompt “bubble bath” 
> 
> In my head, this fits into the early part of “Peace Comes Dropping Slow” but when I was putting that fic together, I didn’t think the tone of this fit, so I pulled it out to stand alone.  
> The M rating is also more a just in case than anything graphic.

“You’re kidding me.”

Noelani met Steve’s gaze in the mirror, hands freezing on the top of her head in the middle of pinning up her hair. Lying in her bed, sheets barely covering him, Steve shook his head. “I really am not.”

“You’re a Navy SEAL. You live on an island. You spend your life surrounded by water. How can you not like baths?” Noelani spun around, a move Steve hoped would make her robe fall open; unluckily for him, it stayed stubbornly fastened. Still, she dropped her hands as she moved and her hair fell around her shoulders and Steve liked that effect almost as much. 

“I like water,” he countered. “I like to swim and surf and snorkel and I liked it when it served a purpose on a mission. Baths serve no purpose.” 

“Cleanliness, hygiene, that’s not a purpose?” 

Steve felt himself shudder. “Showers serve that purpose. Baths, you’re sitting in water that literally contains the dirt you have washed off yourself. No thanks.” 

Noelani made a sound of disgust, spun on her heels back to the mirror and began gathering her hair up again. “You know who you sound like?” There was a grin on her face that was positively evil and he knew, he just knew what she was going to say. He pointed his finger at her to warn her off. 

“Don’t say it,” he warned, a smile on his face and a laugh in his voice. “Don’t you say it...”

She said it. “You sound like Danny.” Disgusted, he flopped back down on the bed, covered his face with her pillow. 

“You are a cruel woman,” he decided and he heard her giggle. It sounded closer than it had seconds ago so he wasn’t surprised when the pillow moved and she was beside him, looking down at him, hair neatly pinned up, a smile on her face. 

“Tempting as what you’re offering is...” He reached out a hand to her, affecting a pout. “I’m taking a bubble bath.” She leaned down, pressed her lips to his. “You’re welcome to join me. Otherwise I’m sure you’ll find something to do.” Another teasing kiss and then she was gone, a sway to her hips that he was fairly sure was meant to entice him to follow her. 

But baths? 

No. 

He lay in bed for a few minutes, tempted to try to catch forty winks but the teasing of moments earlier had made that an impossibility. So he stood instead, pulled on a pair of shorts and made his way downstairs, pouring himself a glass of water, sipping it as he wandered around the living room, looking at the pictures adorning the walls, the books on the shelves. One particular title caught his eye and he blinked in surprise as he saw a few more by the same author beside it. He pulled one of them out, dropped down on the couch and began to read, but it only took a few pages before he was rolling his eyes so hard he thought they might just fall out of his head. 

He couldn’t believe Noelani was a fan of this. 

Shaking his head, he made his way back upstairs, opening the bathroom door and blinking as the steam hit him. Noelani, bubbles up to her chin, turned her head, gave him a beaming smile. “Change your mind?” 

“Robin Masters?” He held up the offending - and wow, was it ever - book. “I never figured you for an action adventure kind of reader.”

Noelani’s smile changed, shifted into some a little more “I know something you don’t know.” It made him wildly curious. “I’m developing an appreciation for the genre,” was all she said and he tilted his head, knowing he was missing something but not sure what. 

“You know this is totally unrealistic right?” He flicked through the pages, skimmed another section that made him shake his head in disgust. “No way a guy this cocky makes it through BUDS. Let alone anything else.” 

Noelani’s Mona Lisa smile turned into a full bodied chuckle. “I’ll take that under advisement.” But again, there was something to her voice that he didn’t wholly understand. 

Or maybe he did. “Hold on... are you hanging out with other SEALs who aren’t me?” 

“Are you jealous?” She shifted her position slightly, making the water slosh about just enough to move some of the bubbles, exposing some of her body to his gaze. It might even have been an accident. 

“Yes.” He didn’t even have to think about the answer and her eyes flew open so quickly that he knew he’d surprised her. 

She recovered quickly though, used his emotion to her advantage. “If this means you’re coming in, close over the door. You’re letting the heat out.” 

It wasn’t a suggestion and he did as he was told, dropping the book by the sink and his shorts on the floor and coming to stand beside the tub. There was plenty of room for two but he was aware he wasn’t a small man and she was already stretched out. “How are we doing this?” 

“Very carefully,” she giggled, sitting up and scooting down the tub, bubbles clinging to her skin, making his fingers itch with the desire to push them away. 

Still it was a fair answer and it took a little manoeuvring but he eventually ended up with his back against the tub, Noelani sitting in front of him, his legs on either side of her, his arms around her waist. It wasn’t the smoothest op he’d ever taken part in, plenty of laughter and muffled exclamations but he didn’t have any real complaints, even though he thought she might once she tried to get out, saw the puddles of water all over the place. “I think we wrecked your floor.” 

She half turned her head to look up at him, lifting an eyebrow. The motion also brought their bodies into closer contact, something that Steve didn’t have a problem with. “All your time in the Navy and your instructors never covered displacement of water theory?” 

He pretended to consider it. “If my instructors had covered it like this,” he said finally, “I think there’d have been some sort of investigation. Mass firings. A minor scandal of some sort...” He let his voice trail off when her giggles couldn’t be kept back any more, pressed a kiss to the side of her head instead. “So... what do we do now?” 

“We sit.” The way her body moved against his as she shifted made him think of other pursuits. “And relax.” 

“Okay. Relax. I can do that.” He nodded firmly, took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Concentrated on the little things, like the heat of the water, the light scent of whatever she’d poured into it. The froth of the bubbles surrounding them both, Noelani’s body pressing against him, the way her skin felt slippery as he trailed his fingers across it in idle patterns. The little hum from the back of Noelani’s throat as he felt her body relax still further, almost melting against him. 

Okay, she had a point. This wasn’t so bad. 

Almost as if she could hear his thoughts, she moved her head back so that she could look up at him, a lazy smile on her lips. “You’re changing your mind.” She sounded very pleased with herself. 

“Maybe a little,” was all he would allow. Then, because he couldn’t resist, “You know, you’ve got a little bit of bubbles... right here.” He lifted his hand, deposited a dollop on the tip of her nose, grinning at the way she wrinkled her nose and shook her head. 

“You know,” she said, “I always did wonder how you’d look with a full beard...” A palmful of bubbles was summarily slathered around his cheek and chin and she eyed him thoughtfully. “Not bad.” 

“You trying to say I’m going grey?” Because he’d noticed a few white hairs creeping in, which he was blaming entirely on ten years of putting up with Danny. 

“In a very distinguished way,” she replied and he had to kiss her for that, no two ways about it. And if his hands wandered, if they slid lower down her body, making her gasp into his mouth as she reached back and up, threading her fingers through his hair? 

Well, she’d said baths were supposed to be relaxing and, she was boneless, pliant against him by the time he teased a release out of her. 

Her cheeks were flushed by the time she was able to speak again and it might have been because of the bath. “Best bath ever,” she murmured as she kissed him again. 

He was inclined to agree.


End file.
